Newbie on the boards!

I am back in the BMW fold again - hopefully never to leave again! I love to work on cars and I am not bad at it... I have posted many times on other forums - but I am brand new to this one with my recently-acquired 2007 550i. I love the car! Thanks for the superb web presence and forum pages. I will be sure to share what I learn as I also ask things of all you experts who post here...

My Gawd that touring is gorgeous. The M-Coupe goes without saying, of course.

I've adored that car for over eight years! I'm really hoping I don't regret trading her for a 2011 X535d. I'm keeping the mCoupe for summer, so that will help. I just don't understand why I can't have another new 540iT.

Who's your guru, the anal-retentive editor. . . or the guys who would actually call a car the X5 xDrive35i?

BMW changes their minds about every three days about how to write their model names: capital letters, small letters, runeverythingtogether, yadd yadda. Every publication has some sort of a stylebook in which they say, "This is how we do it here." (They don't say, but they certainly mean, "and we don't give a damn how they do it in New Jersey!")

So we stopped with the form that has a space, with no hyphen, between the number and Series: 3 Series, not 3 series, 3-series, or 3-Series.

And while we're ranting: What's with the little i? It originally indicated fuel injection, but BMW hasn't built a carbureted car in 30 years! They might as well call it the 325p, for petrol-burning.

Satch Carlson

"The first failure of communication is the belief that any is taking place."

I think one of the first things I'd do upon acquiring one of these new mouthful-of-gobbledygook-named-BMW's (were I actually ever able to) would be to promptly REMOVE the bulky part of the excessively-named badging. At least, as long as it could be got off without damaging the paint. Even if I'm interested in the vehicle itself, I'm not interested in the name if it involves anything more than 3 numbers and 2 letters, ideally with the 2 letters immediately following the numbers.

Next thing you know, they'll think it's a great idea to have a giant Roundel on the back with something like "Bavarian Motor Works, founded 19 or 18 whatever by whomever, City of Munich in the area of Bavaria of the Republic of Modern Day post-Soviet conjoined Germany" encircling the iconicized propeller part, instead of just simply the "BMW" lettering we're all familiar with! Ugh!

One roundel in its traditional spot on the center of the rear trunk lid (and at the center of the top of the hood), as well as "750iL" on the right (passenger side) of the rear trunk lid. Series class + two digit displacement+ one or two more letters is plenty sufficent. "S750iLAutomaticRearDrive" takes up way too much space.

The old way was simple and efficient.

I wish that same philosophy applied with today's BMW's. Clearly the marketing dept. has not only taken over the naming conventions, but they're now running amok.

By the way, is anyone charging their dealership RENT for the badging they ADD onto new BMW's? Seems that if they no longer own the car, they shouldn't be getting free advertising, right?

Please check out my new science fiction adventure story now online at http://www.xybears.com. Your help and support with this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

By the way, is anyone charging their dealership RENT for the badging they ADD onto new BMW's? Seems that if they no longer own the car, they shouldn't be getting free advertising, right?

I've had a long-standing and simple way to deal with that: "Seller agrees to affix no badges, decals or other identifying or advertising marks or devices to the vehicle," written on the sales contract before we sign it. That makes it a legitimate reason to refuse delivery if they do anything irreversible.

It wasn't necessary with my BMWs because my dealer uses only plate frames anyway (which I don't mind) and will delete even those if asked. But it was useful (and great fun) for a Mazda I bought many years ago. I wanted an uncommon set of options and had to wait for a matching car to be built or located and shipped in:

Salesman: "That might be a problem--the decal goes on during prep, almost as soon as they come off the truck."Me: "Well then, make sure someone is standing by the truck so it doesn't happen to mine."S: "We put the decal on all our cars, I can't guarantee they'll catch it in time."M: "I understand, but it's not one of your cars--it's mine. I can guarantee that if there's a decal on it, I will walk away and it will be yours."

Fortunately, I have never had a dealer atrocity affixed to my cars, and the M badges were easy to get off.

I had a Mazda rally car once. We tried to get Mazda to give us a wheel---one wheel---for a spare, or sell it to us at cost, or at least a decent discount, but they refused. Which was certainly understandable; they didn't have to give me nothin', so they didn't.

But I didn't have to give them any advertising, either---so off came the MAZDA badge. And then I paid to braze up the mounting holes and paint the panel. And then I went to a junkyard and found a Yugo badge and glued it to the car. (Believe me, if you're looking for a Yugo badge, the junk yard is where you will find it.)

Somebody who saw the M badge on my garage wall wanted to know why I pried it off the roadster, especially since there are maroons who will happily stick an M badge on just about anything. "The people who know the car don't need the badge to know what it is," I said, "and the other people don't really matter."

Thinking about it, I realize this makes me some sort of an inversely snobbish dickhead, but oh well.

Satch Carlson

"The first failure of communication is the belief that any is taking place."

Somebody who saw the M badge on my garage wall wanted to know why I pried it off the roadster, especially since there are maroons who will happily stick an M badge on just about anything. "The people who know the car don't need the badge to know what it is," I said, "and the other people don't really matter."

Thinking about it, I realize this makes me some sort of an inversely snobbish dickhead, but oh well.

There's a lot of that goin' around.

I used to be a double-inversely snobbish dickhead who did put an 'M' on my car (or, more correctly, left it on the right side grille I bought off a Scottish M535i). The 'M Polizei' hated it, but that's what they used on non-NA M535i models, which were mechanically nearly identical to the NA-spec 535is. I figured it this way: If you knew what an E28 M5 was, you'd instantly know my car wasn't one, nor did it pretend to be one. [It was a full-on US-spec 535is with Euro lights/grilles; the "M5" went on the other side of the grille when used on that model; my badge was an "M", not "M5"; the car was RED; and it said "535is" on the butt.] If you didn't, you didn't matter.

The only reason it isn't on The Kelvinator is, I've been too lazy to bother. Eventually, I will, just to annoy Die M Polizei.

It wasn't necessary with my BMWs because my dealer uses only plate frames anyway (which I don't mind) and will delete even those if asked. But it was useful (and great fun) for a Mazda I bought many years ago. I wanted an uncommon set of options and had to wait for a matching car to be built or located and shipped in:

Salesman: "That might be a problem--the decal goes on during prep, almost as soon as they come off the truck."Me: "Well then, make sure someone is standing by the truck so it doesn't happen to mine."S: "We put the decal on all our cars, I can't guarantee they'll catch it in time."M: "I understand, but it's not one of your cars--it's mine. I can guarantee that if there's a decal on it, I will walk away and it will be yours."

That ended the debate and the car was delivered pristine.

that sounds a lot like the story when my parents bought their Plymouth Voyager in '93, nothing convinces them to make you happy like threatening them with being stuck with an oddly-optioned car

for those who can't afford a new BMW though, Goo-Gone and dental floss works wonders